COMMUNITY
WIN
LOVE2SHOP
VOUCHERS
WHAT DO YOU LOOK LIKE?
If you’ve registered on the travelhub
– Travel Weekly’s industry
networking site – then there will be
quite a few people keen to see you.
The travelhub is a great place to
chat with other agents, but it’s even
easier to build relationships when
people can see what you look like,
which is why this month’s travelhub
competition is about your avatar.
An avatar is the photo you post up
to represent yourself on the
travelhub. We want to get more of
you uploading an avatar, so
in conjunction with Keith
Prowse, we’re running a
competition for the best
avatar uploaded during
the month of July.
Our favourite will win
£50 in Love2shop
vouchers, which can be
used in lots of highstreet
shops.
Go to www.
travelweekly.co.uk/
travelhub
Emily Ashwell Community Editor
24 | Travel Weekly | July 3 2009
LETTER OF THE WEEK
Premium price
for poor service
Yes, it’s that time of year
again, although we all wait
for the lates rush season,
why oh why can we still not
get though to tour operators.
Today I have been in a
queue for First Choice’s
wedding department for two
hours, and still no one
answered the phone.
And yes it was a premium
rate telephone number. I
even tried calling other
department number – and
again there was a long wait.
No wonder I am losing my
sanity. Companies that keep
us hanging on for hours
should be fi ned.
It’s bad enough having to
compete with their web
prices, but then we lose out
again when we try to contact
them, and get charged for
the privilege.
We get sick to death of
hearing their excuses; it’s the
same ones every year.
Getting rid of staff with
years of experience is not
the answer, as us travel
agents need good after-sales
service as well.
Gaynor Tuby, Personal
Travel Advisor, Doncaster
8[Yec[
Wd [nf[hj ed
WRITE TO
Letters page, Travel Weekly, Quadrant
House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey,
SM2 5AS. Fax: 020 8652 3956
email: travel.weekly@rbi.co.uk
All correspondence must be
accompanied by a name, job title
and company address. These will be
withheld on request. We reserve the
right to edit letters. The deadline is
Monday, 10am.
❯First Choice responds:
“Customer service is of
paramount importance to us,
and we would like to
apologise to agents who have
experienced problems
getting through to our
dedicated weddings team.
We launched our summer
2010 Wedding brochure on
Thursday, and as a result
received an unprecedented
amount of enquiries and
bookings. The volume of
calls was 60% more than
anticipated and this resulted
in agents waiting longer than
normal. We have pulled in
further resources to cope
with the demand and reduce
waiting times.”
Know the needs
of single parents
It is interesting to see
another Mystery Shopper
enquiry (Travel Weekly, June
26) where all the visited
shops have failed to provide
a suitable holiday.
To suggest single
parents travel on a normal
mainstream holiday shows a
total lack of understanding
about single parents and
their needs.
Back in 2001, Carole
Visit mmm$jmWYWZ[co$Ye$ka
Cooper and I (I am a single
parent) realised single
parents were being ignored
by the travel trade, so
started the company Small
Families Holidays.
Carole and I realised that
single parents have very
special needs that generally
cannot be served by big
mainstream operators
because of the huge costs
and time involved.
Single parent travel is a
huge opportunity for travel
agents but despite our eff orts
we have not found any
agency interested.
Small Families Holidays
has developed a portfolio of
departures giving our clients
such a range of opportunities
they struggle to decide
where they want to go.
While you may fi nd it hard
to believe some of our clients
have two or three separate
Do you think operators
that keep you hanging
on a premium rate
line should be fi ned?
Get talking at www.
travelweekly.co.uk/
travelhub
www.travelweekly.co.uk
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